Going Cruelty Free

I think I’ve been on my cruelty free journey with my cosmetics for about two years now and I often get questions about it so I thought I would share more about my journey and ways I think could help others going cruelty free.

Lots of people think that because of the EU law against animal testing that any of the cosmetics they buy in the UK and Europe are cruelty free, but unfortunately this is not true. Companies may not be testing to sell in our markets but they are testing to sell in other markets (the biggest country for this being China). There’s also the issue with a brand being cruelty free but there parent company not being, whether you choose to support these companies is a personal decision and I won’t judge.

The case some people make for buying from brands with cruel parent companies is that they are showing a demand for cruelty free products and the case against that is that your money moves up the chain in the parent company to possibly fund testing. Both valid arguments but in my case I do occasionally choose to buy from brands with a cruel parent company.

People ask me how I know that the brands I’m buying from are cruelty free and I give them the dreaded answer of “research” but it’s honestly not as hard as you think it will be and there are things you can do to help make it easier.

The first step I took in my cruelty free journey was inspired by Leena Norms video How Cruel Is My Make Up Bag? and putting “tape of shame” on all my non-cruelty free products with the help of Logical Harmony’s Cruelty Free Brands list so I knew what I couldn’t re-purchase.

The second thing I did was make a list in my phone notes of brands I liked and I knew were cruelty free and brands I wanted to try that were cruelty free. My list includes Barry M, Superdrug own brand (including Revolution, B., and any products with the Superdrug star on), MUA, E.L.F., GOSH, W7, Lush and surprisingly Primark. The great thing about having this in my phone notes is that it is all right there when I am out shopping and I can add to the list and take things away from the list as and when new knowledge comes to light unlike with graphics that circulate online.

If I see someone post about a brand being cruelty free I always double check with another source, most of the time I will use Logical Harmony to do this as it is such a well trusted source.

Changing your product over to be cruelty free can at times be stressful but you’ll soon find favourite brands and products and even dupes for your favourite products (E.L.F cranberry in place of Rimmel 107 I’m looking at you). You might even find yourself looking at brands you never would have before and finding new products you repeat purchase, before I went cruelty free I would buy whatever deodorant was on sale but now I always get the green one from superdrug which is always on a great deal and I’m fully dedicated to the E.L.F brow kits (currently on my fourth one). I hope this has been helpful in your cruelty free journey, let me know what your fave CF products are!